anyone here a car salesman?

[silviaguy240]

im currently a lot attendant, and taking the auto technology program at my local community college which was a former GM cert program. and here for the summer and next years to come im looking at getting a new/second job. and within my company's dealerships there is an opening at our Audi dealer for a salesman and im thinking about possibly applying.

but since i work at saturn dealer currently, im always hearing about and seeing customers that i really dont think i could sell cars to, (e.g. people wasting salesmans time with real bad credit, or just really shady looking people.) but since this is an audi dealer i figured i would hardly have to deal with something like that hopefully.

just kinda looking for general advice for getting started in this kinda field.

[HyperTek]

I been thinkin about auto sales too.. Id figure if you could land at a good dealership you shouldnt have to worry much about people wasting your time, (im thinking alot of people would waste your time looking at the "cool" cars) if you can land a spot for a car that pretty much sells itself, maybe one of the better mpg cars.

But i dunno how the car sales are going right now with the gas prices and all, seems to be doing worse in years.

GL tho,I was gonna as a simular question since i dont have a job and auto sales looks easy to jump in *tho im sure its hard sometimes, like you said people wasting your time etc* it seems like they are always hiring. And ive heard of people making good money doing car sales, my mom's bf's late dad was making over $100k from what i hear.

[HyperTek]

One of my old highschool friends does car sales @ Car max for a few years now.. he was just a big car enthusiest so it was easy for him to get into it.. every now and then he gets a new car *usually late model bmws from the 90s* but still lives at home but i think its because he chose to still live at home lol.

I always used to ask him about it and he said i would be great for it since i know car specs

I have another friend who works at Lexus last i recall, he graduated from University of riverside with a degree in biochemsitry or something and he ended up doin car sales instead lol.. but i know he lives on his own and recently went to japan last year so yah i think its doable.

[BC240]

I was a lot boy at Ford/Lincoln then took a job as an Internet Sales Manager which included selling cars on the floor eventually (for about 3-4 months)

You have to deal with a lot of people who waste your time, it's part of the job. Also people think car salesmen are scumbag liars (which can be true obviously) but honestly customers lie much more. They will tell you "im going to buy this car" straight up, but once they walk off the lot 95% of the time they aren't coming back regardless of what they promised you.

Just know that generally the salesmen who make the most bank have been there for many years and have a huge list of repeat customers. Personally I didn't like it but I learned a lot from the experience and it made me more comfortable and confident dealing with people. Selling $40k-$50k++ cars to total strangers is fucking hard, especially at first but it's worth trying.

Anyways thats a lot of rambling, if you have some specific questions shoot.

[silviaguy240]

yea, thats part of the wanted add they had was you can make over $100k, but being almost 20 and still living at home while going to school i'd be damn estatic making $40k a year. but they also suprisingly have a performance section in the dealer that does retail/installs, of AWE and similar audi parts. maybe might be able to get in there somewhere at first maybe or something. but im only making between like 11 and 15k a year right now and almost half of that comes from the 4 summer months. but its a pretty good job at the moment while i go to school, but would still like to make more $$.

[drift freaq]

Working as a Salesman at Audi dealership is actually quite good. Your not dealing with the usual bullshit of regular Japanese car sales or American car Sales. It basic goes like this, higher end lines are were its at for car salesmen. If you can sell higher end cars you can make a lot of money. One of my best friends older brother went in sales at Porsche. He is now a Sales manager at one of the Several European dealerships that the Porsche dealership owns in the Bay area. He not only makes a shitload of money he has 4 daughters owns a house in Los Altos and has a collection of Classic 60's muscle cars. In other words its been quite for him. Being a Successful salesmen at a Audi Dealership could lead to something like that. Its up to you.

[HyperTek]

nice

yah id imagine all the people who wanna just check out the hondas, escalades, mustangs, subarus, etc

[worangejuice]

I've done it. I also was a rental car huy for lexus and that was cool cause there was no underhanded lying. Plus I was in control of all the IS and ES's. Occasionally I would be able to take a car home. I put on 100 miles on an IS300 back in the day when they were new. Anyway, being a salesman sucks ass if you're not willing to lie or you are not a chatty cathy. I guess it depends who you work for. A sale starts right out with a lie or a 'sales tactic'. Just too shady for me. I only sold a odyssey and I know about cars, I guess customers didn't trust the younger guy with spiky hair. Cause and older lady about 50 or 60 sold cars out the wazoo. Comparitively I would answer almost 90% of the info on the car customers asked. The older lady would usually be like, oh I ;m not sure on 90% of the q&a. But she would always get the sell. Way better being the rental guy at Lexus. I also was a delivery driver at Mazda/Volkswagen and that byfar was the best position at the lot. You make you're own schedule and only deal with people here and there. So go for the delivery job. Then you're in the parts dept. and you get hook-ups and wholesale on parts.

[silviaguy240]

yea, i might go and check it out and see what i could do, its got all the benefits and what not, 401k dental medical.....and also demo allowances. but i kinda feel i wouldnt be so bad at it at first because of my liking for cars plus i like audi's and wouldnt mind getting to know them better, compared to say...a saturn. and im not really looking into getting super big on the sales really, just a good paying job that i could enjoy for the most part to fill the next few years pretty much.

but also because of my age im not really sure how they'd see me, but since ive already been within the company for a while and my bosses seem to like me for the most part, it may help some but i dont know.

[CKAMC]

If your good at puzzles then you will do just fine at selling cars

thats basically what most of the guys in fleet, new, and even used cars back when I worked at Nissan/Infinti

Also the area in which your located helps a lot, being in north scottsdale we had a lot of people willing to put a lot into their car, best part is getting them to finance wheels and other little extra's

pay should be extremely well, even some of the guys that were selling mainly sentra's and altima's.. maybe 5 a month were able to afford nice condo's and a nice sports car

Just watch out if you go party with some of them.... they literally BLOW money away.

[Farzam]

My friend started working for 3 months at a smaller dealership.

He's now working for one of the biggest ones in the state driving a brand new $20k car.

He's 18.

[HyperTek]

i think i got enough motivation now =p
worth a shot since i aint doin shit right now.. in between moving to a house in the boonies which is a setback, and having to assist sometimes at the family business which i dont ask for money and shit. just sucks cuz not currently employed, its like im "since your not doing anything, i need you to blah blah.. " which actually kills my free time to go do something for myself.. i get kinda lazy inbetween which sucks

but 2 years of selling aftermarket parts for a bodykit company and 2 years customer service, ive had my fair share of crappy customers lol.. i could give auto sales a try.

[BlckBeautyVTEC]

Shits rough way more than 8 hour days, have to put up with degenerates, especially when they shaft you with your pay, don't work at Poway Chevy

[WanganRunner]

I've never worked at a dealership.

I held a dealer license for about a year and a half though, and sold quite a few cars. It was a fun way to make a buck, but new day job doesn't allow me the free time to do it anymore.

[silviaguy240]

Also the area in which your located helps a lot, being in north scottsdale we had a lot of people willing to put a lot into their car, best part is getting them to finance wheels and other little extra's.

its in the city which has its wealthy and poor area's obviously, but also the outlying areas (like 10-30 minutes away) are also pretty wealthy and its one of the only audi dealers around, without having to travel over an hour or more. so clientel wouldnt be so bad, but its in the city so i may still get some "gangstas" that think they're paid to come in and waste my time.

[CKAMC]

See if they have internet sales (aka auto trader), its a great backup if no one is doing internet sales (gives you an excuse to be online at work.

internet sales usually get people from further away to show up because they got dicked over by the local dealer or wanna try and haggle you *which everyone of any car level is always interested in doing*

give it a try, you may get a few freebee sales the first month to help you out which will equal better pay than lot attendant

[240SX714]

I've worked as a car sales man for a Honda dealership. You can potentially make lots of money, but you have be to willing to work your ass off. Typically, sales rep. would have to work every other weekend, if not every weekend. Your shifts are divided up horribly to balance the schedule as there was 3 shifts available at my dealership. I've known co-workers who've made $12-16G/month when they're on a hot streak. From my experience, you can be expected to make $35-40/year if you're a decent salesman. Most people say yeah I made 10G last month, but sometimes you make minimum wage the month before. The industry is not very stable, but the job will teach you a lot of social/sales skills. Bottom line is hard work. At the dealership I used to work at, they had a sales rep. position open and they hired the night shift security guy. This guy's English wasn't even average and spoke with a heavy accent as he was a recent immigrant. Anyways, he took the opportunity and had a lot of motivation. He constantly upped people and call out incoming cars. Long story short, he consistently won the #1 sales rep. and got promoted. 3-4 months ago, I went back to the dealership and saw him there. He's one of the managers there. Probably making at least $100/yr. He's been with the company for probably 6 years. The real question you want to ask is to work in used or new cars. Typically, used cars take more skills and higher earning per car. New car is more consistent. Don't feel guilty just because you're trying to earn a living. People purchase cars from dealerships for a reason (warranties = peace of mind).

[A Spec Products]

I'm not a car salesman

But I think right now would be the worst time to get into it

At least for new cars

According to a few of my friends who are car salesmen, at this moment its some of their lowest numbers they've ever done

I think if you're looking for a short term job, or to get some hardcore sales experience, you might want to try it

But each person is different...some people love selling cars, some people can't cut it

[azndoc]

I thought that everyone on zilvia was a car salesman.

With the way cars get passed around.